Notre Dame: A Must for Football Fans (Or Non-Fans)

Let me preface this by saying that I am by no means a football fan. At the age of 21 I’m still pretty unclear on the rules of the game and I am definitely one of those people that only watches the Super Bowl for the commercials (what can I say, I’m an advertising major). But when one of my friends invited me to attend a Notre Dame football game with her family on Labor Day weekend, I jumped at the opportunity. I’d never been an environment like the one I knew a Notre Dame football game would be, and I knew I had to experience it before I graduated.

Our drive up US-31 from Indianapolis lasted a little under 4 hours, with traffic picking up as we got closer to South Bend and the stadium. We found easy parking at St. Mary’s College across the street, and from there it was about a 10-minute walk into the main part of campus.

We arrived with just enough time before the football game to walk around a little and let the first-timer (me) take in the grounds. The Notre Dame campus is absolutely beautiful, and it was filled with fans milling around, organizations selling pregame snacks, and students getting ready for the game.

Our view of the field!

We visited the bookstore, which was, again, like nothing I had ever seen. The two-story store was packed with both merchandise and people. After browsing for a while, we made our way to the register with our purchases. With winding our way through the massive queue and knowing how many people were in the store, I was sure we would be waiting there for a while. Much to my surprise, we were immediately directed to a register by an attendant at the end of the line. They staff has definitely been trained in how to handle game-day crowds efficiently!

We finally made it to the stadium and found our way to our seats. Even at the top of the stadium we had a great view of the game, and we could even see the famous “Touchdown Jesus” from our seats. The crowd was amazing, and the game was so much fun! In the end, Notre Dame triumphed over Purdue, which made a perfect ending to the day.

My day at the University of Notre Dame was a great one. A college football game in an environment like that is one that everyone should experience (EVEN if you don’t like football).